My fellow citizens,

Over the past several weeks, many of you have reached out to me concerning the recent Wake County School Board reassignment plan and its impact on your families. After speaking with many constituents from Breckenridge, Savannah, Ridgemont, and other Morrisville neighborhoods, I am concerned that these reassignment plans take away a consistent and stable school environment for our children, and cause disruptions in the home life of families due to changes in work and after school schedules.

For example, Cedar Fork Elementary School in Morrisville has been the base school for Savannah (north of Morrisville-Carpenter Road), Ridgemont, and Addison Park since it opened in 2006. After only a few years, enrollment at Cedar Fork was capped and only students from already-established families were allowed to attend. Children of families new to the Savannah, Ridgemont, and Addison Park neighborhoods were assigned to Weatherstone or Carpenter.

The traditional school option for Breckenridge was Cedar Fork. Due to the Cedar Fork cap, most of the incoming Breckenridge students were sent to Green Hope Elementary. Now that Green Hope Elementary is capped, they are being switched to Weatherstone Elementary. This is the third time in 8 years that students from Breckenridge neighborhood have been reassigned.

Many petitions have been circulated and signed in the Savannah and Breckenridge neighborhoods asking for a more equitable school assignment plan so that our children can have both stability and consistency in their school experience. If you live in Morrisville and have been adversely affected by the reassignment plan, please share your thoughts and concerns with me by using the form below. It will help our cause when we reach out to the Wake County School Board, through their public comment process, if we can demonstrate how many families and children are being affected. It also helps me understand the scope and character of the issue as it relates to the community I serve.

That said, it’s also important that you take the time to share your thoughts and concerns directly with the school board via their web site at http://wcpss.net/site/Default.aspx?PageID=13220.

Your opinions on this matter are important to me. I look forward to hearing from you.

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